Abstract

No legislation affecting the law of succession was promulgated in the period under review. However, the draft Muslim Marriages Bill was published with an invitation to 'interested parties' to comment on it (Gen N 37 GG 33946 of 21 January 2011). As far as the draft Bill touches on the law of succession, the decisions of the Constitutional Court in Daniels v Campbell NO and Others 2004 (5) SA 331 (CC) and Hassam v Jacobs NO and Others 2009 (5) SA 572 (CC) obviously are the background to the draft legislation (on Hassam, see 2009 Annual Survey at 1040-7). In these cases, it was held that the term 'spouse' in the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 includes the survivor (or survivors) of, respectively, monogamous and polygynous Muslim marriages. The draft Bill proposes the amendment of the Intestate Succession Act to reflect this (cl 17, read with the Schedule of the draft Bill). The draft Bill is mentioned briefly in the chapter on Family Law, too.